The BBC has for the first time published a complete list of page numbers for its red-button interactive TV service, in order to make the service easier to use for viewers who prefer to access the content they are looking for by punching in a number on the remote control, rather than navigating through menus. In a posting on Press Red, a BBC blog that provides updates on the work of the corporation's TV Platforms group (i.e. the group responsible for the BBC's red-button service and for implementing the BBC iPlayer service on TV), the BBC's Andrew Bowden explained the move: "Back in 2003 my first project when I joined the team was to work on the launch of page numbers on what was then called BBCi. When the service was first being built back in 1999, the people in charge decided that they wouldn't provide page numbers for the service, believing that people would prefer to use menus instead as they were easier to use. Over the years, we've found that the majority of people do seem to prefer using the service in that way. However there is a sizable number of people who prefer the ability to just punch in a number and jump directly to what they want to view--be it News Headlines (101) or Lottery Numbers (555). Hence why we added them to the service. Not long after the launch I was asked if it would be possible to put a complete list of them somewhere on the BBC Web site so that people could download them and print them out. At the time we didn't have anywhere to put them; however now we do. It may be five years later than originally requested, but better late than never." The BBC's new red-button page-number list can be accessed on the corporation's Web site in .pdf, HTML, CSV or plain text. The HTML version is located at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pressred/assets/bbcredbuttonpagenumberlist.html (note: the BBC's red-button service does not include page numbers on the Virgin Media cable platform).
